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From: "Christy Fillerup" <>
Subject: Re: [TGF]atransitional-genealogist'sviewpointonProfessionalGenealogy
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:41:35 -0700
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In-Reply-To: <AFE40729DC484323B5EB4A0D3135F77F@MissysOffice>


Melissa,

My sentiments exactly.

Christy Fillerup

----- Original Message -----
From: "Melissa Barker" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 1:13 PM
Subject: Re: [TGF]
atransitional-genealogist'sviewpointonProfessionalGenealogy


> Dear Elizabeth,
>
> Hello, you obviously don't need me to tell you how right you are, but this
> post was excellent!
>
> Sincerely,
> Melissa Barker
> Genealogist for Tennessee and Kentucky
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 1:29 PM
> Subject: Re: [TGF] Mary
> Petty-atransitional-genealogist'sviewpointonProfessional Genealogy
>
>
>> Mary, I am not saying there is not an "industry" associated with
>> genealogy.
>>
>> To cut to the quick of the matter, there is a business side to every
>> profession. But when professional genealogists use the term "industry" to
>> describe their own practice they perpetuate the old concepts of genealogy
>> that you decry. Having been an active professional through all the
>> decades
>> you describe for Jim's experience, and having carried my own spears in
>> the
>> battle to have genealogy accepted as a legitimate field for study in
>> accredited academic institutions, my outlook has been very much shaped by
>> the still entrenched assumptions, amid the public as well as the academic
>> world, that (a) genealogy requires no special knowledge, because (b) the
>> records are there, so all a genealogist has to do is go pull them.
>>
>> The concept of genealogy as a learned field that requires extensive
>> knowledge of subject matter--from history to law to DNA--equally
>> extensive
>> knowledge of research principles and standards, and keenly honed
>> analytical
>> abilities is totally foreign to the public mind. Frequent posts on this
>> list
>> make that point. Categorizing these highly professional activities as an
>> industry diminishes us to the old concept of genealogists just churning
>> out
>> copies of records.
>>
>> I still maintain that Ancestry operates an industry and that most
>> participants of this list practice a profession (and I don't think anyone
>> who knows me would say my concept of genealogy is stuck in the 60s :).
>>
>>
>> Elizabeth
>>
>> ------------------------------------------
>> Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
>> Advanced Research Methodology & Evidence Analysis
>> Samford University Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
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>> 8:16 AM
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>>
>
>
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